"Guns Don't Deter Crime", according to Harvard study

[Archer]

Seems legit...

Guns Don't Deter Crime, Study Finds

States With More Guns Have More Homicides

 

[femurphy77]

Didn't read either, probably won't. . .Did the states with more guns and more homicides perhaps have more people also?

 

[T.Lex]

Interesting methodology - using gun suicides to determine gun ownership, although I think they're conflating ownership and possession.

The team took state-level homicide rates from a database from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Since there is no survey at the state level that measures gun ownership, the researchers estimated these numbers by looking at a commonly used proxy: the number of suicides by firearms. Researchers use this statistic because the ratio of gun suicides to all suicides has been shown to correlate strongly with surveys that measure gun ownership.

The "no survey at the state level" thing is interesting. I know I've seen surveys regarding state-level gun ownership, perhaps based on ATF data.

It goes on to say...

This type of study can't prove causation, and the researchers noted that it is theoretically possible that people who live in states with higher levels of firearm homicide are more likely to purchase guns. But the study also found that a state's percentage of gun ownership, when lagged by a year or two, was still a significant predictor
of firearm homicide rates.

Oh yeah, this is from a different link.
States With More Guns Have More Homicides

By the way, check out the journal in which this study appears:
American Journal of Public Health - current edition

 

[actaeon277]

States with more cars also have more injuries and deaths from cars. Still waiting for the call to ban them.

 

[SteveM4A1]

States with more cars also have more injuries and deaths from cars. Still waiting for the call to ban them.

Or require background checks to purchase. I know plenty of habitual DUI offenders with suspended licenses that have no problem buying cars.

 

[KLB]

I liked this part

In their analysis, the team also controlled for a range of factors that could affect the homicide rate, including poverty, unemployment, violent crime, incarceration, gender and race.

Sounds like they tweaked things until they got the desired results.

 

[jmpupillo]

Perhaps these Harvard folks forgot to study the case(s) of Chicago, New York, and LA...

 

[Sling10mm]

I would like to see a study of civilian firearm ownership versus government killing of said citizens.

 

[KLB]

Perhaps these Harvard folks forgot to study the case(s) of Chicago, New York, and LA...

Nope. They "controlled" for it.

 

[Thor]

I would like to see a study of civilian firearm ownership versus government killing of said citizens.

I think that was done, it's called the 20th Century...but history is easily ignored.

 

[singlemalt]

I think that was done, it's called the 20th Century...but history is easily ignored.

or forgotten. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. I'm thinking they would have been better served if they had read Lott's report, but maybe that's just me.

 

[crispy]

I'm thinking there is an easier way to do a study. Take a high crime area. Put one of two signs in front of every other house. One to read "Gun Free Zone", the other would say "This house protected by Smith & Wesson".

Count burglaries after a year.

Voila. You'll have your answer.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I don't think guns deter crime either. It actually a unrealistic notion. Criminals are going to be criminals. So to that effect I don't care if guns deter crime. What I do know, is that guns protect people.... and that's all that matters to me.

 

[T.Lex]

I don't think guns deter crime either. It actually a unrealistic notion.

I think it is more accurate to say that guns deter certain criminals from targeting certain potential-victims.

Certain subsets of criminals look for the most defenseless, and avoid potential gun owners. (By their own admission.) So, in that sense, the guns deterred the crimes against those victims. Of course, we both know the criminals just targeted someone else. So, in that sense, the overall crime was not deterred, just that crime against that particular subset of potential victims.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I think it is more accurate to say that guns deter certain criminals from targeting certain potential-victims.

Certain subsets of criminals look for the most defenseless, and avoid potential gun owners. (By their own admission.) So, in that sense, the guns deterred the crimes against those victims. Of course, we both know the criminals just targeted someone else. So, in that sense, the overall crime was not deterred, just that crime against that particular subset of potential victims.

Well I that case I got a better way to deter criminals. Be broke and homely like me.

 

[T.Lex]

Well I that case I got a better way to deter criminals. Be broke and homely like me.

Bwah!

I'd have to work more and work out more.